Diablo IV Pre-Purchase Available Now. Releases June 6, 2023

[Delta6326]

Any idea if D4 requires internet connection at all times like D3?
I tried D3, it's sad when you are playing single player and you get great fps, but you can't even play do to bad ping... 250+ms. No physical internet lines where I live. Phone hotspot only, tower is 8 miles away.

 

[Sithaer]

Any idea if D4 requires internet connection at all times like D3?
I tried D3, it's sad when you are playing single player and you get great fps, but you can't even play do to bad ping... 250+ms. No physical internet lines where I live. Phone hotspot only, tower is 8 miles away.

Yep D4 is online only, even has shared world/MMO elements with other players on screen when not playing the story/quests. 'those are private from what I heard/read but still all online'

 

[Delta6326]

Yep D4 is online only, even has shared world with other players on screen when not playing the story/quests.

Darn, looks like no D4 for me then. Wish they had offline single player mode. It's all I've ever been able to do with games.

 

[Sithaer]

Darn, looks like no D4 for me then. Wish they had offline single player mode. It's all I've ever been able to do with games.

Yea this is like a norm nowadays that almost everything has to be online one way or another.. 'I also mainly play solo in D3 in Hardcore mode so I'm always a bit worried about random disconnects or lag spikes at the wrong time but luckily thats rare with my current connection'

@vmarv

Forgot to answer that question but yes the beta client/test did support controllers as far as I know.

 

[vmarv]

Darn, looks like no D4 for me then. Wish they had offline single player mode. It's all I've ever been able to do with games.

D2R has both offline and online mode.
You launch the game, authenticate online and then you can choose to play offline, that is like a single player mode, with savegames stored only in your pc. You can use the characters created for the offline mode only offline.
The players asked offline mode for years and Blizzard finally introduced it. If they make the same for D4, then you're good to go.

 

[Sithaer]

D2R has both offline and online mod.
You launch the game, authenticate online and then you can choose to play offline, that is like a single player mode, with savegames stored only in your pc. You can use the characters created for the offline mode only offline.
The players asked offline mode for years and Blizzard finally introduced it. If they make the same for D4, then you're good to go.

As it stands currently, no they don't plan on doing that.

Copied straight out from an interview and to my knowledge this is still the case:

Blizzard has confirmed that Diablo 4 will not have an offline mode. Speaking during a panel held at BlizzCon 2019, lead designer Angela Del Priore addressed a question about whether the game can be played solo and whether it will support "a full offline mode." While multiplayer won't be mandatory, you will need an online connection to play.

"We are not going to support an offline mode," Del Priore replied. "But as I said before, nothing in Diablo 4 is going to require partying up. You can play solo and dungeons are private. Campaign quest areas will [also] remain private."

Its a shared world design so they can't really make an offline mode unless they create an entirely different client for that which is highly unlikely.
D2R had to have the offline mode cause D2 also had it while D3 still doesn't.

 

[vmarv]

Its a shared world design so they can't really make an offline mode unless they create an entirely different client for that which is highly unlikely.
D2R had to have the offline mode cause D2 also had it while D3 still doesn't.

Giving the game that feature won't cost Blizzard an arm and a leg, they can afford it, both to design and implement it.
If the game will have online only, then it's just because they want it like that. We'll see, but not having the offline is a shame.

 

[SSGBryan]

I don't really understand the reasoning behind pre-ordering for digital copies. They don't run out of digital keys/copies

In this case, so I can have 4 days to try to download the final product before it goes live to the masses.

I am looking forward to this. I can't say why because the NDA still applies to me.

 

[mak1skav]

Pay now and cry later that you received a half baked game full with problems and unplayable for the first few days. Yeah customers are like war, they never change.

 

[EatingDirt]

Friendly reminder to not pre-order games unless you've actually played them already and know you'll actually enjoy them (beta tester). They won't run out of copies on release day.

Also, it's ridiculous to pre-order a copy of a game over 6 months in advance. Sorry, but it's honestly ridiculous. There's not a single good reason for pre-orders of digital games to be available for pre-order 6 months in advance of their projected release date. I say projected, because 6 months is a long time from now and Blizzard famously pushed back Diablo 2 by what was it, a year? That's not likely to happen with D4, but it's possible.

In this case, so I can have 4 days to try to download the final product before it goes live to the masses.

I am looking forward to this. I can't say why because the NDA still applies to me.

If they don't have a pre-load of a highly anticipated game before the actual release date on their own digital platform, they're doing something wrong. The other pre-order bonuses for the $90 & $100 editions are a waste of money because one actually knows what "Seasonal Battle Pass" even means, I doubt even beta testers like yourself know. The other 'bonuses' are simply cosmetics.

If you want to pay $20 more for playing 4 days early, I guess all the more power to you, because that's the only tangible bonus of the Deluxe Edition.

 

[mechtech]

hmmmmmmmm

Diablo is an action role-playing video game developed by Blizzard North and released by Blizzard Entertainment in January 1997

So 26 years later they are releasing part IV?

I'm glad Final Fantasy didn't follow that timeline for releases

 

[Chrispy_]

Haven't tested the D2 remaster ...
Is it good or ... ?

It's D2, 100%. Except you have to pay for it again. No fixes, no changes (graphics were never an important part of D2, so updating them does NOTHING)
Oh, except there are new bugs added.

If you have been playing D2 online with the community servers, you've been getting a better game than D2R.

hmmmmmmmm

Diablo is an action role-playing video game developed by Blizzard North and released by Blizzard Entertainment in January 1997

So 26 years later they are releasing part IV?

I'm glad Final Fantasy didn't follow that timeline for releases

Have you heard of this cool game called Half Life?
The sequel, Half Life 2, is episodic to give players more frequent releases; Episode 3 is coming out any day now....

 

[maxfly]

Cool, I'll check it out when it's not stupidly priced...so 2024.

 

[Minus Infinity]

Pre-order, not unless they give me the game free to be a beta tester. I'll wait for a at least 6 months. Hopefully get it a nice discount in the STEAM Winter 2023 sale.

 

[Thorsthimble]

Think I'll be waiting a bit, see how it goes. I have zero faith in Blizzard these days. I hope they prove me wrong and put out a good game, but there's no way in H**l I'm pre-ordering.

 

[maxfly]

Think I'll be waiting a bit, see how it goes. I have zero faith in Blizzard these days. I hope they prove me wrong and put out a good game, but there's no way in H**l I'm pre-ordering.

I hear ya. I really want this to be badass but I just can't get excited about anything blizzard anymore.

 

[KrazyT]

Ok, the D2R is the same as D2, with better cosmetics ...
Hmmmm, with an heavy discount price, maybe i'll check it
Thanks for sharing your experience !

 

[Sithaer]

It's D2, 100%. Except you have to pay for it again. No fixes, no changes (graphics were never an important part of D2, so updating them does NOTHING)
Oh, except there are new bugs added.

If you have been playing D2 online with the community servers, you've been getting a better game than D2R.

That was true at relase more or less but not anymore, the game had multiple updates since and they added various things and a lot of fixes/balance updates + even new game related mechanics.
Last big update went live in late september, addig new Terror zones and Sunder chars that can finally break monster immunities so now you can finally play a pure Cold Sorc build on Hell for example. 'before not even Infinity RW's conviction aura could break that so you had to play a hybrid build or avoid Cold immune zones/rely on a strong merc'
TBH even the quality of life changes made to the game makes it worth to play over the original, unless you prefer playing a modded version of D2 offline or on their respective community servers.

D2R might be under Blizzard but is handled by a diff team, so far doing a pretty decent job I would say. 'heck even D3's current team relased some fun Season themes lately, for a 10 years old game lucky we get anything..'

Pre-order, not unless they give me the game free to be a beta tester. I'll wait for a at least 6 months. Hopefully get it a nice discount in the STEAM Winter 2023 sale.

There will be an open beta for everyone before the relase, pre ordering only lets you access it a few days earlier.

 

[Chrispy_]

That was true at release more or less but not anymore, the game had multiple updates since and they added various things and a lot of fixes/balance updates + even new game related mechanics.

I mentioned community servers, where we've had mods that fixed the weaknesses of original D2 15+ years ago.
Hell Unleashed and Eastern Sun are far better games than D2R, even after the additions of Terror zones.

Don't get me wrong, D2R is a decent mod, but it doesn't stand out from the others, is lesser in scale, and is the only one that isn't free. Since this topic and my original point was about pre-ordering, it's also worth pointing out that D2R didn't have any of its current goodness at launch. Instead, it had server outages, a few last-minute bugs to quash, and a short-lived feeling of nostalgia that triggered buyers remorse from a few popular ARPG and Diablo streamers.

 

[Sithaer]

I mentioned community servers, where we've had mods that fixed the weaknesses of original D2 15+ years ago.
Hell Unleashed and Eastern Sun are far better games than D2R, even after the additions of Terror zones.

Don't get me wrong, D2R is a decent mod, but it doesn't stand out from the others, is lesser in scale, and is the only one that isn't free. Since this topic and my original point was about pre-ordering, it's also worth pointing out that D2R didn't have any of its current goodness at launch. Instead, it had server outages, a few last-minute bugs to quash, and a short-lived feeling of nostalgia that triggered buyers remorse from a few popular ARPG and Diablo streamers.

I also played Eastern Sun back in my D2 days and ye that was a good mod, but well you can have both D2R and D2 original with mods tho yes D2R is not a free upgrade but if we are talking about original vs original I would just play D2R at this point.

I was invited back to D2R when it was relased, pretty much my entire D2 friend group went back to playing it like old times. 'I'm the only weirdo playing D3 instead '
They had a blast playing it until the dev team made Annihilus charm a lot easier to get, effectively ruining their business they had going on with those charms and managing the Über Diablo walks on the EU Battlenet server.

From what I noticed the core/diehard players are still hanging out and playing D2R, streamers come and go with games thats what most of them do. 'Don't really care about them either'

Server issues at launch is pretty much a given/standard nowadays, happened to every single new online relase I've tried to play in the past years like don't even make me mention Lost Ark where I paid for the founder pack just to play a ~week earlier and I couldn't cause every main EU server had 15-30k que on them..

I'm not expecting D4 to have no issues at launch, that would be unrealistic really tho personally I had very minor issues a half day after launch in D3.

 

[Bomby569]

yep right.

 

[MarsM4N]

I have the feeling this game is going to be a hot seller in the bible belt. Imagine the responses of parents who's children wants this game under the tree, lol.

oh whos that archangel?

You need to watch the intro song from the Game Awards. "Halsey - Lilith", now that's a real eye catcher.

 

[big_glasses]

Buying Blizz game and (trying) to play at launch... ye... enkoy your digital queue simulator
D2R had the same issue, had some pals that played it, and for the first weeks (month?) they basically didn't log out, as they'd get huge queue to get back in

For me, with what @Sithaer mentions with always online (and "hubs"?), in addition to BP. Totally gone with any interest for me

 

[vmarv]

Darn, looks like no D4 for me then. Wish they had offline single player mode. It's all I've ever been able to do with games.

I quote you again.
D2R single player seems a good alternative for you then.

POE, Grim Dawn and Titan Quest are good alternative. Each one has its pros and cons, but can keep you busy.

If you want to play Diablo III offline, you have to use the Nintendo Switch emulator for PC, search the rom of the game and run it this way. There are plenty of guides online.
I can run the game at 60 fps with my specs and you have better hardware than me.
Also, the Switch emulated version plays perfectly with the gamepad, if someone prefers that (like me).

 

[Prima.Vera]

Hope this will follow D2 footsteps and NOT the garbage that D3 was...
Also better Multiplayer? And one can dream of 16 or 32 player parties.